Does your 10/11 year old believe in Santa still?

[summerrluvv]

Not quite sure how you know whether I have children or not. However, you are correct, I don't, because I do not like children. This is a message board for people to share their thoughts on a topic. Not everyone is going to be nice and/or agree with you. You started the thread, and apparently you expected everyone to agree with your point of view. Obviously, everyone does not. You need to accept that or not post. If you have a problem with anything I've said, please report it to a moderator.

I don't expect anyone to agree with me, but there is a tactful way of stating things and unfortunately you are missing that when you typed out a nasty response to a previous poster.

I'm not sure why you would bother replying on a thread intended for parents of children with 10/11 year olds if you don't even have kids of your own.

 

[maelstrom]

I'm not sure why you would bother replying on a thread intended for parents of children with 10/11 year olds if you don't even have kids of your own.

Just because a person does not have children of their own does not mean that they do not have opinions on the subject. I have been a huge part of the lives of several of my young cousins (no, not the same as being a parent, very true). Having birthed a child does not make you the almighty authority on child-rearing.

 

[chisnpeke]

To each their own, but IMHO, it stunts their emotional growth. Where does it end? Do you keep pretending that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc are real into adulthood? It has to end somewhere. And to be *devastated* by the realization that Santa Claus is not real and for Christmas to never be the same for you again, that's a pretty major problem, one that you might want to seek counseling for.

Wow. I got over it pretty quickly. But at the time it was devastating...as devastated as an 11 year old could be. As I look back on it did it emotionally scar me? No way! Like I said though, Christmas never was the same again. It was the last year I had my grandma too, so maybe that played into as well. Why squash what goes by so quickly?

I don't think anyone is going to believe that all of these childhood myths are true into adulthood. If they do then there might be a problem but to put a fork on the whole thing at 10 or 11 is quite harh because you think it stunts emotional growth. I'm emotionally fine. My friend believed longer than I did and she is a very independent person and emotionally just fine.

Maybe if people believed in magic a bit longer they wouldn't have such sour attitudes and be so emotionally distant.

 

[SunnyP4Disney]

Not anymore. Too many kids at school were saying there was no Santa Claus and my husband finally broke the bad news, DS was almost 11. This was his first Christmas post-reveal and he handled it well, he still seems fairly well-adjusted!

 

[chisnpeke]

I'm quite content being a humbug, thank you.

If the rest of you are content with babying and helicoptering your children and sheltering them from the real world, be my guest. I hope you have some funds set aside for their future therapy bills.

If you are suggesting that people will need therapy because of believing in Santa Claus after a certain age, you really are out of touch. Santa Claus is a childhood fantasy. Children also play with toys. Some play with toys longer than others. So if a child plays with baby dolls until they are 12 there is something wrong with them? I did. I grew out of it. That is normal. Not every child develops the same way.

I find it odd you are on a Disney website (a company based on imagination and magic) yet you seem to be the antithesis to that whole idea.

 

[MrsMork]

Yesterday DGS 10 said he had been having doubts, but after we watched Norad track Santa all day he said "I saw him". The magic is still there for him and I am glad. Note, not one of my three children, now ages 41-32 were permanently damaged by believing in Santa or Mickey Mouse.

 

[Becky2005]

After last night - my 15 year old may go back to believing.

Actually, both her & I are confused as to what was going on.

I kept thinking I heard the kids up very late, so would go check yet their doors were closed & it was quiet (I kept thinking I was hearing doors open & voices as if someone was having a conversation -- I thought it was DD talking to DS but that would have been odd at that time of night!).

Then DD asked me this morning if I was vaccuming at 2 AM since she got woken up by what she thought was the vaccum and she heard what sounded like a conversation - it was about 2 AM - I was definitely in bed at 2 AM. Now, in her case, it *might* have been DH & I talking since we were up chit-chatting as I was doing stockings but it was only until about 12:30 AM NOT at 2 AM. I certainly wasn't using the vaccum though. She did say at first she thought it was DH & I but she said it sounded like a group of people not just 2 people talking. It freaked her out a bit I think since she couldn't figure it out.

We just decided it must have *really* been Santa last night!! I'm thinking there might have been some other explination (too much caffeine before bed??? or neighbors although she did look out her window to see & the streets were completely empty, no cars driving by, no people, etc...) but we are going with Santa, although you would think he would have been a little quieter.

She didn't believe he would have been cleaning but all I kept picturing was the commercial a long time ago where he knocks over a potted plant and uses the hand-held vac to clean it up.

 

[PatsGirl]

And to be *devastated* by the realization that Santa Claus is not real and for Christmas to never be the same for you again, that's a pretty major problem, one that you might want to seek counseling for.

OMG, it seems that the bulk of my 401K might need to be used for teen therapy DD was *devastated* that she was one of the last of her friends to find out Santa was not a jolly man dressed in a red suit who came down through the chimney and left the gifts there is no way this single mom could afford. She was also *devastated* a few weeks ago when her very favorite pair of jeans blew out and had to be trashed and I expect she will be *devastated* when her first boy friend dumps her

And FWIW, I have raised two kids, helped parent two stepdaughters, spent some time working with truly emotionally disabled teenagers, and hold a degree in adolescent pyschology...an opinion without any basis is what some of us call, well never mind, that's right, you don't like kids and it would seem that is your basis

 

[Katy Belle]

My youngest son is nearly 10. He's been on the fence for a while, but every time he almost figures it out his big brothers would convince him that Santa was real. I had decided that this year if he asked, I would tell him.

We were in the car with his friend, who is 10, and from Holland. We were talking about their tradition of Sinterclaus. He said that he knew that he wasn't real and it was your parents that do the gifts. My son said, "Yeah, I know that too."

So I asked him later, "Do you believe in Santa?" and he said, "Well, I know he's not real, but I still want to believe in the Big Guy."
So sweet.

 

[Spinning]

I find this funny.

My children are 14 and 11 (in a few days 12) My DD never told me she knew until this year and it was rather funny when she told me how she found out. We had a good laugh and joked about all season long.

My son, has not spoken the words to me yet that he doesn't believe but I know he doesn't. Secretly I think he still wants to believe. Both kids are very well adjusted. Also they appreciate all they received. For us Santa was an addition to Christmas. But not the reason for us the main reason is the birth of Christ. Santa only brought 3 presents for each child and they couldn't be big expensive items and nothing alive or difficult to get.

I wouldn't change a thing! WOuld do it all over again only difference, we would do the shelf elf too!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We clue the kids in the year they are in 6th grade.. This year it was DD's turn. Two years ago, it was my oldest's year. Both of them already "knew" when we told them. I am just concerned at that age they will be picked on in school.

I asked DD is any 6th graders still believe, and she said there are some kids who say they still believe, but she thinks they are just kidding around. We have one left. DS is in 4th grade, so one more year of the Real Santa, and then it will be the Spirit of Santa.

 

[taximomfor4]

10yo ds does not...he slipped that into conversation casually a few weeks ago. So I strongly suspect 11yo dd doesn't believe anymore either, but won't say anything (and I bet neither will she). Most kids I know never tell their parents when they stop believing so who really knows!!

 

[luvmy3]

We told our dd11 the truth this year, and she said "yeah I know", no drama, no devastation.

 

[gregokdisney]

I'm quite content being a humbug, thank you.

If the rest of you are content with babying and helicoptering your children and sheltering them from the real world, be my guest. I hope you have some funds set aside for their future therapy bills.

I believed until I was 12 with no lingering trauma. The year I found out I was even more excited to help keep the magic alive for my younger brother and cousins.

I don't know of anyone who believed into adulthood - that is just ridiculous. Every child grows up at his or her own rate. No need to rush it. They will face enough grown up stuff soon enough.

 

[wdwfan16]

No 11 year old that I have ever know still believed and certainly not a 5th grader.

 

[castleview]

My 10 year old still isn't sure probably because of all the mind games we've played to make her think it's real. She knows but doesn't want to know. She and a friend said they were going to make Christmas lists but not show them to their parents just to see if he was real, but decided not to. I'm quite sure this was the last year for her. Hopefully, I'll make it fun for her because she can be Santa with me next year..

If your child still believes, watch out for the books Super Fudge, Double Fudge, and Bridge to Terabithia.

 

[paintnolish]

My son will be 10 in March. He is about 50/50- he goes back and forth. He is trying to apply logic to Santa (which doesn't work!), telling me at least Santa has 24 hours to go around he world not just one night, due to earth's rotation! He goes back and forth, telling me Santa is not real, but then saying maybe in the next breath! DD is totally convinced!

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I thnk lots of older kids "go along with" because it is more fun to believe than not to believe. My nephew is 11 and yesterday he told me that he pretends to believe because he didn't want to upset his parents. I promised not to tell them that "I knew that he knew".

 

[hentob]

Not quite sure how you know whether I have children or not. However, you are correct, I don't, because I do not like children.

Yet you are concerned with how long they believe in Santa?


If you do not like children, why even enter a conversation concerning them?

 

[Boxley]

My son knew about Santa until he was about 10 years old. I told him the truth about Santa and although he was not sad, he reasoned that although Santa does not truly exist, that Santa is a big way of bringing Christmas spirit to little kids.